the day she stole my cell phone.

This year has been EXTREMELY busy so far. So for those of you who watch for my Feature Friday posts... I apologize. I haven't been keeping up with them. I will do my best to feature someone when I can!

For starters, I am no longer 100% gluten free. I will be eating and cooking primarily GF, but not always. And definitely not when I'm out with friends. It's really hard on people to find food for me to eat already with being vegan, so gluten free is not a big deal to me. I'll just eat as little as possible. For those who have to be GF because of celiac disease of some other factor, it must be really hard! How do you manage to do it?

From L-R: (Top row) Myself, JJ, Vince, Tim.
 (Bottom Row) Erin, Pammy, Kelsey, Adele, and Dom (our Hall Director)

In the three weeks I've been on campus so far (and only 1 week I've been in classes!) I've noticed a constant theme: friends who care. My Residence Life staff (go Husman Hall!) have been so extremely supportive of everything, and I know I can go to them whenever I'm in the middle of a crisis.

For example, when someone "stole" my cell phone the other day.

Let's be real. I was leading an event with Xavier Navigators (a Christian based group on campus) and I did not have my phone on me for much of the night. It was sitting out, and I was not paying attention to it. Game night was going FABULOUSLY, I was getting to know a lot of the freshmen, and having a great time.

The night came to an end, and after we had cleaned and packed everything up, I noticed one thing was missing.

My cell phone.

We literally turned the entire lounge upside down. We searched inside everything and everywhere. Where could it possibly be? We called other people and told them to look through their things, and we still had no luck.

So, the leader, Mark, told me I could have his old smartphone. I went back to Husman and sat in the office with some of my other staff members and just talked to them for a while. JJ, my building's SRA (senior RA - he's not a senior, but he oversees all the rest of us) looked and me and said I could have his old phone too! (Now I had two phones being offered to me!) It was an ENV3, which is a pretty good phone. And since I had to wait until the next day for Mark's, I decided to use JJ's.

I called my parents and told them the situation. My dad deactivated my phone and said that the phone was stolen. I activated JJ's phone and went on my way.

The next morning, I worked out with Elizabeth, another leader of Navigators, who gave me Mark's old phone (smart phones are so confusing...). I went to class and everything was normal until I hear a little voice say my name from the hallway outside my dorm.

"Rachael....?" I turned around to see Miranda, another leader of Navigators. GUESS WHAT? She had my cell phone!

Turns out someone put it in her backpack on accident. SERIOUSLY?! I spent the whole night spazzing and NOW we find my phone?! But thanks, Miranda. I missed my touch screen!!

I activated my phone again and all was well. Still, what this showed me was that I am surrounded by amazing people in all of the communities that I am a part of. They are willing to do anything for you when you need it. Absolutely anything. College is where you meet your best friends for the rest of your life, right? I think it will definitely hold true for me.

Our welcome board on the wall in front of the office

Another night, I noticed this theme again. I was sitting on duty in the RA office, and I get a phone call saying Navigators had a half a large veggie, no cheese pizza for me! Along with a huge bag of popcorn, fruit leather, and various other vegan friendly items. I was so surprised. They brought it to me while at the desk and we had a fabulous time! Again, this just shows me how the people you're close to really care about you here. College is for life, my friends. :)

I apologize. I know this photo is sideways...

With that, I'll leave you with a few quick things you can throw together for a delicious trail mix! Use whatever amount of each thing you want. I think the more chocolate the better :)

Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix

Ingredients: 
Raw cashews
Dried Cherries
Chocolate chips
Raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:
Throw everything into a plastic bag and shake to combine! Voila :) The perfect easy and healthy snack.